Friday Egg: Purple and Orange Traditional Rose

Purple, orange, yellow and green on a black background. This traditional Pysanka is one of my favorite designs to create.  There's something quite satisfying about the balance of a central medallion on each side encircled with an eternity band.  Just feels right.  And no matter what color combination I choose, it always comes out lovely and exactly right.  I started with a white egg, as is traditional, then went through yellow, green, orange, and purple then dyed it black for the final color.

Because it is a traditional egg, there are many meaningful symbols including:

- Nets = Protection
- Crosses = Christianity or the four corners of the earth
- Spirals/Curls = Protection from evil
- Dots = Stars or Spring (they represent eggs!) or Mary's tears
- Rose = Love and caring
- Diamonds = Knowledge

The eternity band is also a protection from evil.  Because it has no beginning or end, an evil spirit will become trapped in the egg.

It's on Etsy if you are interested:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/76200914/traditional-ukrainian-egg-stylized-rose

I hope you enjoy it!

Friday Egg: Friday Fish Fry

A traditional fish design done in some non-traditional colors.  I started with a white egg, as tradition demands, then proceeded through gold, orange, turquoise and finished with the final color of purple.

A simple egg, but with such bright colors sometimes simple is best! 

Friday Egg: A favorite color combination

The combination of purple, green and yellow just shouts "Spring!!!" My mother has an amazing iris bed in her garden that enchants me every spring when it teems with all shades of iris: purple, violet, lavender, blue, pale yellow. The mid-range green of the spiky leaves makes a perfect foil for all the bright colors. Last year's Easter dress for JoJo was a pastel yellow and the photos from Easter are among my favorites because the colors are so harmonious and at the same time stimulating.  It just makes me happy to see all these colors living together.

This egg has traditional geometrics but non-traditional colors.  I started with a turquoise blue egg, then worked through a lovely olive green, then violet and the last color is yellow.  I really like that the background color is yellow.  This is not a usual choice in pysanky eggs, but I like that it contributes to the "spring" feeling evoked by the rest of the colors.  Imagine this egg with a white background and it would have a completely different meaning or feeling, wouldn't it?

Happy Friday!

Friday Egg: Purple Rose

Friday Egg today is a traditional rose or star motif in purple and pink.  I was hoping that the colors would be a bit more vibrant, but the eggshell was just not picking up the colors the way I would like. I have been needing to refresh my dyes for a while and this shows why.  The colors lose vibrancy and get grainy looking and the coverage can be spotty and uneven.  I usually can make my dyes last for a very long time by adding a dash of white vinegar when they start to lose strength, but there comes a time when that just won't cut it anymore.  I have my distilled water, dyes and jars all ready to go, now I just need to find an extra hour in the day to mix them up.  Maybe Saturday night (don't be jealous of my glamorous life).

Friday Egg: Odd Combination

Today's egg is definitely an odd color combination. One of the interesting things about making Pysanky eggs is that you can never actually see what you are doing until you are all done.  So it is easy to get odd, unusual or just plain ugly color combinations.  The one that happens most for me is an egg that just doesn't work somehow.  The colors are too similar in value or not complementary and so the design doesn't come alive as it should.  I will let you look at the following egg and you can tell me if this egg was successful or not.  I simply cannot decide!

Friday Egg: Lavender Iris

Friday Egg this week is a restrained little and shy little thing that reveals its infinite charms only upon close examination.  

I started with a brown chicken egg for my outlines.  Once all the guidelines were drawn, I etched the egg in regular white vinegar until the eggshell was white.  I dipped the egg in bright yellow for the polka dots surrounding the flowers and the yellow centers of the flowers.  I did the nets and some tiny triangles in the eternity band in bright green as well as the leaves of the flowers.  Next was orange for the band and then violet for the flowers and details in the band.  For the final background color, I washed the purple dye down with just plain water until it achieved the pretty lavender color.  One side shows two iris and the other side is a bloomed iris and a bud, each surrounded by spiky shoots.

Unusual color combination of purple and orange on this egg!  I wonder how different this egg would have looked with a white egg instead of a brown egg.  Probably a lot more showy and bright.  I really like this sweet little guy, hiding his lights under a bushel.

If you are interested in purchasing this sweetheart, click here!

Hope you like it too.  Happy Friday!